The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for operating on messages, and more particularly for operating on non-text messages, such as voice and facsimile messages, including, for example, searching such messages.
Modern communications technology has produced voice mail, faxes, e-mail, video conferencing and many other ways to send messages.
The growth in voice mail systems has been explosive. In 1996, telephone company revenues generated by providing Voice Mail service exceeded one billion dollars. While business users typically buy voice mail systems, residential customers buy this service from telephone companies. The residential market accounts for 82% of telephone company voice mail subscribers and 69% of revenues generated. Thus, voice mail and faxes are fully part of the daily communications fabric.
In the last twenty years the use of facsimile messaging (fax) has also exploded. The cost of fax machines has decreased steadily, and with the advent of computer telephony (CT), faxes can be received and sent via local area networks (LANs) directly to computers on the user""s desktop, eliminating the need to even walk down the hall to the fax machine.
Known systems will collect all digital communications, display the time of receipt, the source of the message, and indicate whether it is voice mail, a fax, or e-mail.
With known systems, a user with a telephone system and a computer can quickly become inundated with information. As such, it is important to be able to separate important messages, or messages which contain key information, from routine messages or electronic junk mail. With known systems this is difficult. In addition, finding key elements of messages can be time consuming and difficult, if not impossible. Known systems provide functions for finding, filtering, filing and re-directing textual messages (e.g., e-mail) but do not do so for voice or facsimile messages.
The present invention solves these problems by providing a way for searching for, or through, non-text messages to find certain information, or to determine if certain information is included therein, and/or for performing other operations thereon. In conjunction with the present invention, a search is undertaken for one or more signal samples having pre-defined characteristics by comparing one or more signal samples of non-text messages with these pre-defined characteristics. For example, the predefined characteristics may comprise one or more templates for voice samples which make up a specific word (e.g., xe2x80x9curgentxe2x80x9d). In that case, these voice templates may be compared with signal samples of a voice message in a search for signal samples which match these voice templates. In addition, and in accordance with the present invention, a non-text message having pre-defined characteristics may be operated upon to provide a desired result (e.g., forwarded).
Therefore, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method for operating on a non-text message including searching the message for one or more signal samples having pre-defined characteristics by comparing one or more signal samples with the pre-defined characteristics.
In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for operating on a non-text message, including searching the message for one or more signal samples having pre-defined characteristics and upon finding one or more signal samples having the pre-defined characteristics, operating on the message.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for operating on a non-text message, including a non-text search engine for searching the message for one or more signal samples having predefined characteristics by comparing one or more signal samples with the pre-defined characteristics.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided apparatus for operating on a non-text message, including: a unit for searching the message for one or more signal samples having pre-defined characteristics; and a unit for, upon finding one or more signal samples having the pre-defined characteristics, operating on the message.